Voters in many places around the state will go to their annual town meeting tonight.
Those meetings can often be contentious. Battles over a new police cruiser or renovating the library sometimes carry on past midnight.
But that probably won't happen in New Hampshire's smallest town, Hart's Location. Fewer than forty people live in Hart's Location, and town meetings there tend to be short and peaceful.
NHPR's Trish Anderton visited town clerk Marion Varney and filed this report.
THE HART�S LOCATION TOWN HALL ISN�T MUCH TO LOOK AT. IN FACT, BETWEEN ME AND YOU, IT FEELS KIND OF LIKE A BASEMENT. THAT�S ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE BECAUSE TOWN HALL IS MARION VARNEY�S BASEMENT.
That�s my washer, my dryer, and if they don�t like htat they can find someplace else I guess! But they seem to be happy with it.
MARIAN VARNEY HAS BEEN TOWN CLERK HERE FOR 24 YEARS, WHICH IS HOW LONG TOWN MEETING HAS BEEN HELD IN HER BASEMENT. BESIDES THE WASHER AND DRYER AND A BIG FURNACE, THERE�S AN OLD GREEN SOFA AND A COUPLE OF CHAIRS. A CURTAIN HANGS ACROSS ONE SIDE OF THE ROOM. IT�S GREEN WITH BIG FLOWERS ON IT.
that�s where we vote is over in back of, there�s a desk over there, and they go in, go around, and vote.
HART�S LOCATION IS TUCKED INTO CRAWFORD NOTCH, JUST WEST OF THE JACKSON/CONWAY AREA. IT BOASTS 37 RESIDENTS, AND A TOWN BUDGET OF JUST OVER 16,000 DOLLARS. WITH NUMBERS LIKE THAT, TOWN MEETING GENERALLY ONLY TAKES BETWEEN FIFTEEN MINUTES AND HALF AN HOUR.
004 005 09 I guess we don�t really have too many controversial things.
Q: People don�t go storming out of town meetings?
No no, we don�t have that problem as a rule. One year we did have some people storm out of school meeting. They didn�t want to fund kindergarten. They decided we had enough children in school without putting a couple extra little kids in there. //That was one of the controversial things but that was a school board meeting.
EVEN THOUGH THERE�S NOT MUCH TO DEBATE, ATTENDANCE AT TOWN MEETING IS PRETTY HIGH.
Theres some of us htat have to all show up anyway, like the selectmen, the treasurer, town clerk, and that takes care of a few people. Supervisors of the checklist have to come, so just with those people that�s half the town.
IT MIGHT NOT SEEM WORTHWHILE TO HAVE A WHOLE TOWN GOVERNMENT FOR JUST 37 PEOPLE. VARNEY SAYS THERE�S OCCASIONAL TALK ABOUT DISBANDING THE SELECT BOARD, BUT IT NEVER GOES ANYWHERE. VARNEY THINKS HART'S LOCATION WILL GO ON GOVERNING ITSELF UNLESS IT RUNS OUT OF PEOPLE TO HOLD TOWN OFFICES. SO FAR, SHE SAYS, IT�S TAKEN A LITTLE PERSUADING. BUT THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ENOUGH PEOPLE AROUND TO KEEP THE TOWN RUNNING. FOR NHPR NEWS I�M TRISH ANDERTON AT THE HART'S LOCATION TOWN HALL.
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